Australian news, and some related international items

Gillard government takes its orders from USA – uranium to India

Gillard is helping to destabilise the sub-continent by fuelling a dangerous arms race involving India’s rivals, China and Pakistan.

The Labor government’s about face on uranium sales to India under Gillard was carried out on Washington’s orders. In November 2011, the US ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, publicly called on Canberra to “sort out” its issues with India, as the US had done when it resolved the “thorny point” of uranium sales through the 2008 nuclear deal that exempted India from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Australian PM visit to India bolsters new “strategic partnership” WSWS, By Patrick O’Connor 20 October 2012 Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s three-day trip to India this week was aimed at deepening military, diplomatic, and economic ties between the two countries.

Washington has encouraged the closer relations as part of its aggressive drive to undermine the influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region. Gillard met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. High on the agenda was progress towards Australian uranium sales to India, and
the two leaders agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral Civil
Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. Exports from Australia, which holds 40
percent of the world’s available reserves of high grade uranium, will
be used in India’s burgeoning power reactors, allowing the Singh
government to keep the limited domestic uranium supplies for India’s
nuclear arsenal.
Gillard is helping to destabilise the sub-continent by fuelling a dangerous arms race involving India’s rivals, China and Pakistan.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had previously antagonised the Indian
government, and diverged from the US line, by overturning moves by the
previous Liberal-National government to end the ban on uranium exports
to India. Australia and India formally declared a “strategic
partnership” in 2009, but the relationship has become closer since
Gillard became prime minister in 2010 and immediately reoriented
Australian foreign policy in line with the Obama administration’s
drive to strategically encircle China.
The Labor government’s about face on uranium sales to India under Gillard was carried out on Washington’s orders. In November 2011, the US ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, publicly called on Canberra to “sort out” its issues with India, as the US had done when it resolved the “thorny point” of uranium sales through the 2008 nuclear deal that exempted India from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Gillard immediately responded. On the day before
President Barack Obama visited Australia, the prime minister announced
that Labor Party policy on the uranium export issue would be reversed.
The announcement was made on the eve of Obama’s highly provocative
speech to the Australian parliament directed against Beijing, and as
plans for a US Marine base in Darwin were unveiled. The timing made
clear that the Gillard government’s overtures towards India formed
part of Washington’s broader efforts to strengthen alliances and
strategic partnerships throughout Asia directed against China…..
Gillard and Singh announced new bilateral military and security
initiatives on Wednesday. …. Many of the joint naval exercises are
likely to be conducted near India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, close
to the western end of the Straits of Malacca. The straits are a major
trade route for China to access energy and raw materials from the
Middle East and Africa over which the US is determined to maintain
control.
Encouraging India and Australia to collaborate more closely in
patrolling the Indian Ocean is a key element of Washington’s strategy.
In a speech to the Indian Business Chambers, Gillard pointed to these
aims, declaring. “We see common security interests in what is
increasingly described as the Indo-Pacific region. We both want
security of maritime routes.”….
Whatever the precise form of the proposed diplomatic and military
formations under discussion behind closed doors, there is no doubt
that Washington is continuing its campaign for a closer alliance of
the so-called democracies in the Asia-Pacific, as part of the drive
against Beijing…..http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/oct2012/indi-o20.shtml